Does anyone else think this is amazing???

Also, has anyone used unRAID? - Really considering it after watching this video!

 

Not a bad idea until you take into account the machine has to be on 24/7 to be really effective, plus if you ever need to work on it etc you'll need to take down your NAS.

 

I would suggest you get a proper server grade machine for a fileserver such as the HP Gen8 Microserver that's currently about £110 after cashback and run something like Nas4free.

http://www.serversdirect.co.uk/hp-proliant-gen8-g1610t-microserver-819185-421/version.asp

 

You can get an iLO advanced license off ebay for about £10 to allow you to never have to use a keyboard and mouse and just stick it in a cupboard somewhere.  Nas4Free also gives you the option of using ZFS which gives good protection for file servers.

 

What I've done is upgrade my Microserver with more RAM and a i5-3470t and run Windows Server 2012R2 on it, I then use hyperV to pass through 2 drives directly to a Nas4Free VM (In case I ever need to go bare metal on the Nas4Free I don't use virtual drives for the data).  This also runs my DNS, CCTV recording (Debian VMs) and a couple of Windows VM for SWMBO to use.

 

You need a license for the full fledged version of Server 2012r2 but you can get the HyperV only server for free I believe.

 

If you don't fancy upgrading a machine yourself and having to find the right cpu etc but want more kick, Dell are doing cashback on their T20 tower server at the moment which takes it to about £200 with a Xeon E3-1225v3 and 4gb of Ram.  It doesn't have ILO but you can get virtual KVM (remote control over network) etc working through the Intel AMT built into the Xeon.  A friend has just bought one as an upgrade to the microserver and says it's a nice machine although it doesn't have hot-swap bays.

Edited 12 March, 201610 yr by gullyg

Yeah quite a good idea.

For my current NAS Solution I am running a Dell Poweredge R710 which is configured with an RAID 5 array running VMware which then allows me to spin up any other VMs if needed but also run my NAS solution at the same time. 

 

I am going to try unRAID and report back my experience, going to try it on a spare machine me thinks first however I did notice in the video it has DOCKER as a side app which in the IT game at the minute is a big buzz word. 

 

My only worry about unRAID is the fact that my expensive graphics card is always going to be powered on, however some people do argue that it is better to leave something on all the time instead of powering it off and on again.

Yeah should be interesting. I had a quick look and it appears unraid might be a chargeable product which would be a bit of a bummer if you're just using it at home.

Personally although it's great to virtualise stuff I prefer having my servers and clients completely separate.

I take it the R710 has iDrac? How do you find it versus iLo? I'm looking to move to some rack servers rather than the microserver and a ML10 but have been sticking to HP as I like the iLO stuff and I own the licenses.

Unfortunately when I picked up a second hand cabinet I was a muppet and didn't pay attention to the depth. Looking at the HP stuff I can only use a dl320e as the rest are too deep.

I've been doing this for years - software of choice at the minute is Serviio.

 

Although I don't have a particularly good graphics card (AMD Radeon 5500 series that's about 8 years old) it's more than enough to allow the machine to act as a NAS, streaming to my Xbone in the lounge, PS3 in the bedroom and whatever else I randomly hook up to the network...

Plus the special RAID just looks like RAID3 to me.

I nearly went down this route a while back but bought a Seagate NAS drive about a year ago and very pleased with it. Uses much less power than running a PC 24/7 and the drive only spins up when it's needed.

 

It streams to everything round the house without a problem (mainly a Fire TV stick running Kodi).

 

I can also access it over the internet.

 

Phil